MANILA – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday expressed concern that some unscrupulous policemen may be using the government’s war on drugs to retaliate against their personal enemies.

At a Senate hearing into the extrajudicial slays of drug suspects, Trillanes presented a TV Patrol report on the death of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was arrested at a police checkpoint and later found dead in Tanza, Cavite last September 9.

CCTV footage shows four policemen apprehending victim Mark Anthony Culata at a checkpoint.

Among the cops were P01 Hernan Romanes, whose partner was allegedly Culata’s former girlfriend.

Within hours, Culata was found dead in Barangay Lambingan, his body bearing several gunshot wounds and signs of torture. Beside him was a cardboard labeled “pusher ako (I am a pusher).”

“Makikita natin na maaaring may mga ganitong insidente na iyung person na nakaaaway e suddenly, nagiging addict tapos biglang pinapatay. Iyung coincidences, masyadong matingkad e,” Trillanes said. [We can see that there may be cases like this where a person who was in an argument, suddenly turns into a drug addict and is killed. The coincidences are too obvious.]

The senator also found it “highly suspicious” that the suspects’ police station has no blotter record of the incident and has allegedly refused to submit relevant documents to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Administrative and criminal charges have been filed against Ramones, PO1 Edgardo Fontanilla, and PO2s Yves Luyun and Emerson de Ocampo. They were also reassigned to the provincial police headquarters.

But Senator Gordon questioned why the four policemen remained free when their cases are non-bailable offenses.

“To my mind, this is where the people get very alarmed. Dapat iyan mabilis ang aksyon [The response should have been swift]. The evidence is very strong. Four policemen obviously kidnapped this person, and obviously, dapat nakakulong na iyang mga pulis na iyan [these policemen should be jailed] for murder, robbery with homicide -– non-bailable offense iyan,” Gordon said.

NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin, however, argued there was no conclusive evidence that the policemen were behind the OFW’s death.

“It’s very clear from the video na ‘last touch’ lang dito ang pulis. Hindi po conclusive na pulis ang pumatay,” he said. [It’s very clear from the video that the police were only responsible for the ‘last touch.’ It is not conclusive that the policemen killed (Culata).]